An open letter to Minnesota wine retailers
January 23, 2012 
Jason Kallsen 
Hello my retailer friends. You are the ones that find great wines for me, and the ones that enthusiastically greet me when I walk in the door. You are the ones that I see come alive when a good customer arrives, and get excited when a good bottle is opened near you. Shhhhhhhh…. come closer
A stunning Pinot Noir comparison
October 27, 2011 Jason Kallsen 
Last evening I conducted a Pinot Noir Masterclass at North Loop Wine and Spirits. A dozen people plus myself enjoyed a great evening of education and tasting going over the history, styles, nuance, food pairings, and future of Pinot Noir. I split the class into two parts. The first half was tasting a variety of
What’s happening today: Ridge Geyserville crushing
September 29, 2011 Jason Kallsen 
One thing I love the most about the web is seeing what is happening NOW. So today, I present the Ridge harvest at Geyserville as it looked just yesterday. Love the web!!!
The changing face of Aussie wine
September 26, 2011 Jason Kallsen 
The wines of Australia and New Zealand have never been better, but ironically they have never so ignored. Australia is suffering an identity crisis, a victim of their own success. For many years it seemed the Aussie wine train was unstoppable, and as soon as one label became successful suddenly a dozen imitators followed suit.
Judging wines at the Minnesota State Fair
August 30, 2011 Jason Kallsen 
The day begins early, which is almost always a glorious summer morning with birds singing and an absence of mosquitoes. The yellow jackets have not yet found the trash cans, the animal barns smell of animals rather than their manure, the deep fried food vendor’s clothes are still tidy, and most noticeably attitudes are always
The one reason why you should take stemware seriously
August 04, 2011 Jason Kallsen 
An open letter to restaurant and wine bar owners of the Twin Cities regarding stemware: You can attend stemware comparison tastings. You can listen to Mr. Riedel lead you through the nuance of a Sauvignon Blanc glass versus a Pinot Noir glass. You can open up the stemware catalogs of your favorite suppliers and gaze
An incredible wine bar … in Rapid City, South Dakota!
July 07, 2011 Jason Kallsen 
Here’s a story about finding a nearly perfect wine bar in the most unexpected of places. If a wine bar like this opened in the Twin Cities, it would be packed every night, guaranteed. Last August and September we took a blissful ten days off and went to the Black Hills of South Dakota. No
Getting into the wine business
June 29, 2011 Jason Kallsen 
It’s the question I field more often than most. “How do I get into the wine business?” There is no simple answer, but let’s talk about this for just a bit. The wine business is not unlike other industries: more often than not, it’s who you know. This can be a daunting thing if you’re
